Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Right Honourable The Earl of Liverpool KG PC FRS
Portrait of Lord Liverpool by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1820
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 8 June 1812 – 9 April 1827
Monarchs	George III George IV
Regent	George, Prince Regent (1812–1820)
Preceded by	Spencer Perceval
Succeeded by	George Canning
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
In office 1 November 1809 – 11 June 1812
Prime Minister	Spencer Perceval
Preceded by	The Viscount Castlereagh
Succeeded by	The Earl Bathurst
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 25 March 1807 – 9 April 1827
Prime Minister	The Duke of Portland Spencer Perceval Himself
Preceded by	The Lord Grenville
Succeeded by	The Viscount Goderich
In office 17 August 1803 – 5 February 1806
Prime Minister	Henry Addington William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	The Lord Pelham
Succeeded by	The Lord Grenville
Home Secretary
In office 25 March 1807 – 1 November 1809
Prime Minister	The Duke of Portland
Preceded by	The Earl Spencer
Succeeded by	Richard Ryder
In office 12 May 1804 – 5 February 1806
Prime Minister	William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	Charles Philip Yorke
Succeeded by	The Earl Spencer
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 20 February 1801 – 14 May 1804
Prime Minister	Henry Addington
Preceded by	The Lord Grenville
Succeeded by	The Lord Harrowby
Personal details
Born	Robert Banks Jenkinson (1770-06-07)7 June 1770 London, England
Died	4 December 1828(1828-12-04) (aged 58) Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England
Resting place	Hawkesbury Parish Church, Gloucestershire, England
Political party	Tory
Spouses	Louisa Hervey ​ ​ (m. 1795; died 1821)​ Mary Chester ​ ​ (m. 1822)​
Parent	Charles Jenkinson (father)
Education	Charterhouse School
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Signature

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, KG, PC, FRS (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He also held many other important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. He was also a member of the House of Lords and served as leader.

As prime minister, Jenkinson called for repressive measures at domestic level to maintain order after the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. He dealt smoothly with the Prince Regent when King George III was incapacitated. He also steered the country through the period of radicalism and unrest that followed the Napoleonic Wars. He favoured commercial and manufacturing interests as well as the landed interest. He sought a compromise of the heated issue of Catholic emancipation. The revival of the economy strengthened his political position. By the 1820s, he was the leader of a reform faction of "Liberal Tories" who lowered the tariff, abolished the death penalty for many offences, and reformed the criminal law. By the time of his death, however, the Tory party, which had dominated the House of Commons for over 40 years, was ripping itself apart.

Important events during his tenure as prime minister included the War of 1812 with the United States, the Sixth and Seventh Coalitions against the French Empire, the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars at the Congress of Vienna, the Corn Laws, the Peterloo Massacre, the Trinitarian Act 1812 and the emerging issue of Catholic emancipation. Despite being called "the Arch-mediocrity" by a later Conservative prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, scholars rank him highly among all British prime ministers.^[1]